Former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, Australian number one Samantha Stosur and US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer top the list of entries for the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions next week. In addition, wild cards have been given to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan.

The $600,000 event is open to the top 10 players who have claimed at least one of the 30 International Series events on the WTA Tour during 2009 and are not competing in the WTA Championships in Doha.

"Players and fans are excited about the upcoming inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in beautiful Bali," said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. "The event promises to be a fantastic finale for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s International tournaments. With the field featuring some of the Tour’s leading players and next generation stars, a great week of tennis and fierce competition is guaranteed."

Marion Bartoli has enjoyed one of the most successful seasons of her career, beginning with a run to the final of the Brisbane International, followed by a win over then-world number one Jelena Jankovic that took her to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. She then claimed the title at Monterrey in March that qualified her for Bali, and she added a further title in Stanford with victory over Venus Williams in the final.

Samantha Stosur has long been a top-ranked doubles player. But an impressive season in singles saw her defeat second-ranked Dinara Safina in Miami, before claiming victory over fourth-ranked Elena Dementieva on her way to the semi-finals of the French Open. She then earned a win over Serena Williams that took her to the semi-finals of Stanford, followed by a run to the Los Angeles final before she made a career breakthrough in Osaka where she won her first singles title.

Yanina Wickmayer recovered from a dreadful start of the season, winning just one of her first eight WTA Tour and Fed Cup matches before rebounding with a spectacular run to the title in Estoril. That set her up for a fine summer that included a place in the final of s’Hertogenbosch, but that was just a prelude to an even more successful second half of the season, as she swept all the way to the semi-finals of the US Open and then went on to win the second title of her career at Linz.

Lisicki leapt to prominence at Charleston this year where she defeated Venus Williams on the way to claiming her first career title. She went on to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and last week the 20-year old came within one match of qualifying for Bali when she reached the final in Luxembourg.

While Lisicki is a comparative newcomer, the second wild card has gone to veteran Kimiko Date Krumm, who in winning the Korea Open in Seoul a day before her 39th birthday became the second oldest player ever to win a Tour title.

Two Spaniards are included among the other seven players to be competing. Anabel Medina Garrigues has enjoyed her most successful season, climbing into the top 20 for the first time. As well as winning the Roland Garros doubles for a second straight year, she made her mark in singles by claiming the title in Fes to qualify her for the Tournament of Champions, and she later went on to reach the final in Seoul.

Fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez claimed two International Series events this year, winning Bogota in February before adding another in Bastad in July. Along with Stosur, she is one of just two players to qualify for both the doubles in Doha and a place in the Tournament of Champions in Bali.

Melinda Czink suggested she would be a Bali contender by beating Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanovic before qualifying for the Tournament of Champions with a title in Quebec City, and Aravane Rezai preceded her run to the fourth round of Roland Garros by winning her maiden career title in Strasbourg. Magdalena Rybarikova also won the first title of her career by winning Birmingham after a promising start to the year that saw her reach the semi-finals in Hobart and Pattaya, and Shahar Peer made a late-season run to qualify, winning back-to-back titles in Guangzhou and Tashkent in September. Agnes Szavay’s place in Bali was earned with victory in Budapest after she had beaten top-10 opponents such as Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka and, most significantly, Venus Williams at Roland Garros.

"We have worked very hard to make the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions one of the best tournaments on Tour and I am sure that players and fans will enjoy an exciting week of tennis in a spectacular location that is Bali," said Tournament Director Kevin Livesey. "We look forward to welcoming the players who have shown by their results this year that they are destined to do great things in the future."

"We at Commonwealth Bank look forward to the inaugural tournament kicking off this week and are thrilled to be able to support the event and women’s tennis," said Mr. Nursing, President Director, Commonwealth Bank of Indonesia. "We look forward to seeing this incredible international group of stars come together in Bali and showcase tremendous competition for tennis fans in Asia."

Matches take place at the Bali International Convention Centre, The Westin Resort, Nusa Dua from 4th to 8th November. The tournament features a round-robin format with four groups of three players, with the winner of each group advancing to the semi-finals.

Slutiana

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:50 AM

Awful. :lol:

Honitsu

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:57 AM

KIMIKO :hearts:

adner

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:59 AM

Definitely better than Hantuchova. Luckily she refused the wildcard. They should have offered one to Kimiko immediately <3

great WC's Sabine deserves it, with her big title (and the field wasn't that bad as warsaw and moscow eg)

But what about patty...

Dexter

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:18 PM

Thank God, they didn't give a WC for Schnyder. :worship:

Sexysova

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:19 PM

Sabine definitely deserves this WC :)

rrfnpump

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:23 PM

This tournament should be for winners of International Tournaments and as much as I like Sabine she has no business being in Bali since she did not win any Int. Makes this whole Bali thing even more ridiculous than it already is. :o

So random.

Lisickinator

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:29 PM

:bounce::woohoo::bounce:

cosmoose

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:31 PM

This tournament should be for winners of International Tournaments and as much as I like Sabine she has no business being in Bali since she did not win any Int. Makes this whole Bali thing even more ridiculous than it already is. :o

So random.
Haven't you heard? Rules are made to be broken! :lol:

I'm just glad Sabine was given the WC. woot! :D

Miss Amor

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:31 PM

Sabine :hearts: :hearts:

Rising Sun

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:32 PM

This tournament should be for winners of International Tournaments and as much as I like Sabine she has no business being in Bali since she did not win any Int. Makes this whole Bali thing even more ridiculous than it already is. :o

So random.
I agree. I also really like Sabine, but it totally defeats the purpose of the tourney. :o

KournikovaFan91

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Sabine shouldn't be here, she didn't win an International, if she wins this whole thing then it is a pointless event, and does nothing to help players who haven't won Premier titles :o

cosmoose

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:38 PM

I agree. I also really like Sabine, but it totally defeats the purpose of the tourney. :o
First 10 slots are determined by the rules of the tournament.
The 2 WC are given at the tournament's discretion.
It's called "wild card", not "purpose card." ;)

KournikovaFan91

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:42 PM

Yes but the point of this tournament is for lesser players who have won Internationals.

adner

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:43 PM

Yes but the point of this tournament is for lesser players who have won Internationals.

You're so clever, are you a member of MENSA? Zvonareva has qualified yet withdrawn cuz of her injury.

KournikovaFan91

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:44 PM

What are you on about Zvonareva?

adner

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:46 PM

What are you on about Zvonareva?

You've said that they should give a WC to Zvonareva, but you've edited your post ;)

cosmoose

Oct 28th, 2009, 12:47 PM

Yes but the point of this tournament is for lesser players who have won Internationals.
Yes, 10 slots were guaranteed for the international event winning lesser players.
But the rules also allow the tournament organizer to pick 2 others to attract more fans or recognize other deserving player, or whatever reason they deem fit. It's their choice.
Besides, we've heard that the other choices were Patty and Dani. They don't quite fit the stereotype of players you were looking for? :lol:

BuTtErFrEnA

Oct 28th, 2009, 01:01 PM

This tournament should be for winners of International Tournaments and as much as I like Sabine she has no business being in Bali since she did not win any Int. Makes this whole Bali thing even more ridiculous than it already is. :o

So random.

didn't she win something bigger than an int'l?

Kworb

Oct 28th, 2009, 01:04 PM

Kimiko! :inlove:

fouc

Oct 28th, 2009, 01:22 PM

Great choice. Only tournament winners should be in Bali. WCs for Hantuchova or Schnyder would be ridiculous

WhoAmI?

Oct 28th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Featuring top Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players and next generation champions
I think Lisicki fits under the *next generation champion* perfectly -- shes young and not yet a champion:)

But the choise of WCs is interesting one to the past generation and the other to the next generation. :lol:

AnnaK_4ever

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:03 PM

I agree. I also really like Sabine, but it totally defeats the purpose of the tourney. :o

And what is the purpose of this event? To make one of MM queens massively overranked?

delicatecutter

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:16 PM

So happy they came to their senses and I don't have to boycott the tourney. :woohoo: Good luck Sabine! :hearts:

TheBoiledEgg

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:23 PM

nice having the event but there should be ZERO points awarded here.

The Kaz

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:27 PM

nice having the event but there should be ZERO points awarded here.

and why is that?

Oh thats right...no Russians are playing here ;)

shirgan

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:28 PM

and why is that?

Oh thats right...no Russians are playing here ;)
:lol:

VIKA?

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:31 PM

Sabine deserves the WC but Date:weirdo:

TheBoiledEgg

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:32 PM

and why is that?

Oh thats right...no Russians are playing here ;)

600 points is too much for MM queens, cos its a pointless event at end of year, 350 should be max.
its not gonna be on TV except in Asia :o :yawn:

if it was that good, lots of foreign TV would have bought rights to it.

glorified exho for MM queens

The Kaz

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:35 PM

600 points is too much for MM queens, cos its a pointless event at end of year, 350 should be max.
its not gonna be on TV except in Asia :o :yawn:

if it was that good, lots of foreign TV would have bought rights to it.

glorified exho for MM queens

Granted.

But you said it should be worth ZERO points and now you're backtracking to 350 points ;)

Doha is glorified Exo for the top 8...i see very little difference between the two tourneys actually :shrug:

Randy H

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:35 PM

Is there a point breakdown somewhere for the Bali tournament? I know the winner gets 600 points, but I can't remember coming across the rest of the points awarded.

Pleased to see Kimiko get a spot here :)

tanman

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:37 PM

this tournament is useless. you put on a tournament for winning lesser events and call it a championship.
I thought that was only done in minor leaque sports. WTA is one tour, I thought, I didnt know it was divided
between major leaque and minor leaque.

Randy H

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:39 PM

this tournament is useless. you put on a tournament for winning lesser events and call it a championship.
I thought that was only done in minor leaque sports. WTA is one tour, I thought, I didnt know it was divided
between major leaque and minor leaque.

But you said it should be worth ZERO points and now you're backtracking to 350 points ;)

Doha is glorified Exo for the top 8...i see very little difference between the two tourneys actually :shrug:

big diff is that top players cant play here
whilst everyone could qualify for the Doha event, here you cant compete if you made Doha.

they could just have given made it 9-20 in Race and played it out that way so its for all.
and the 2 WC makes an even bigger joke of the tourn.

i can just see ITF coming up with 100k winners Gala with winners getting 400 pts................... :lol:

TheBoiledEgg

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:41 PM

^ Randy beat me to it :lol:

The Kaz

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:45 PM

big diff is that top players cant play here
whilst everyone could qualify for the Doha event, here you cant compete if you made Doha.

they could just have given made it 9-20 in Race and played it out that way so its for all.
and the 2 WC makes an even bigger joke of the tourn.

i can just see ITF coming up with 100k winners Gala with winners getting 400 pts................... :lol:

True.

I like the idea of the tourney but 9-20 in the race would of been a better concept.

shirgan

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:45 PM

in the wta site it says Vera Dushevina will travel to Bali as an alternate.

bjurra

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:48 PM

Sabine shouldn't be here, she didn't win an International, if she wins this whole thing then it is a pointless event, and does nothing to help players who haven't won Premier titles :o

The whole point of wild cards is to enable access to players who dont fill the criteria to enter a specific event. You think they should abolish WCs at Grand Slams too because it is unfair to players ranked 110-130?

bjurra

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:50 PM

Sabine deserves the WC but Date:weirdo:

Date won Seoul.

Randy H

Oct 28th, 2009, 02:51 PM

I always hated when the YEC reduced from 16 players to 8, and now here they are trying to now make a secondary tournament...What for? What they should do is make the YEC a tournament for the top 12, or top 16...If it's top 12, then you have 4 groups of 3, winners go through to semis and it might actually make it interesting to see who is going to finish the year in the top 10.

Navratil

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:11 PM

So what?? Did Date refuse the WC or will she play??
Where is the entry-list?

pan

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:15 PM

Sorry, but I'm not that much into all those statistics and categories and stuff - so Sabine won Charleston. Isn't that an "International" tournament? Thanks in advance! :)

shirgan

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:19 PM

So what?? Did Date refuse the WC or will she play??
Where is the entry-list?
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/news/bali-here-we-come-20091028_2256076_1839687

Sorry, but I'm not that much into all those statistics and categories and stuff - so Sabine won Charleston. Isn't that an "International" tournament? Thanks in advance! :)
No, Charleston is a Premier tournament, a much bigger tournament than the International tournaments.

pan

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:37 PM

No, Charleston is a Premier tournament, a much bigger tournament than the International tournaments.
Ok, so some people say she doesn't deserve the WC cause she won a much bigger event? That's cool. ;)

danieln1

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:53 PM

Great Kimiko is playing!!!! I think she´ll beat some players there... Stupid Hantuchova that refused... Lisicki is a good choice too, way better than some folks that were saying that slumping schnyder, who´s done nothing this year, would get it

fufuqifuqishahah

Oct 28th, 2009, 03:57 PM

big diff is that top players cant play here
whilst everyone could qualify for the Doha event, here you cant compete if you made Doha.

they could just have given made it 9-20 in Race and played it out that way so its for all.
and the 2 WC makes an even bigger joke of the tourn.

i can just see ITF coming up with 100k winners Gala with winners getting 400 pts................... :lol:

I like the idea of a 100k winners Gala :bounce:

they should also have a 1mil Tourney for all those ranked high enough but didnt get to play in an event xD :drool:

the ranking system is already a joke. let's just f** it up more :lick:

Michael!

Oct 28th, 2009, 04:17 PM

nice having the event but there should be ZERO points awarded here.

I guess only because there are are no Russians in Bali ;)

Good decision that they gave the other WC Lisicki!
Sure she didnt win an international tournament, but that´s why she wasnt directly qualified, and needed the WC, and they can give the WC to anyone who deserves it, and Sabine definetely deserves it!
She won her first big title this year (even bigger title than needed for Bali),reached QF in Wimbledon, and then was so unlucky with injuries in the 2nd part of the year, but showed already again with the final in Luxembourg that she is on her way back!

2nd WC for Date Krumm might be a bit weird, as this tournament should be an opportunity for younger players to get some points, but she won a title this year at the age of 38, is back in the top 100 and for sure very popular, especially in Asia! :)

Sabine will be 4th seed in Bali I think, and couldnt face Bartoli,Stosur and Wickmayer in the RR...but I am not sure if it works like that :tape: :lol:

Any Russian (or any other) player with any pride and dignity left in her body wouldn't play this useless MM tournament anyway :p

CrossCourt~Rally

Oct 28th, 2009, 04:51 PM

Nice choices for WCs :bounce:

*Jool*

Oct 28th, 2009, 07:17 PM

Great choice of WCs
I guess Sabine's final last week helped her receive it + the fact she won a Premier, you could tell she looked motivated for a spot in Bali
As for Kimiko ... :worship: :hearts:

cn ireland

Oct 28th, 2009, 08:56 PM

Great choice of WCs:bounce:!

WhoAmI?

Oct 28th, 2009, 09:36 PM

Any Russian (or any other) player with any pride and dignity left in her body wouldn't play this useless MM tournament anyway :p

And why not? If Dushevina would of qualified, I'm sure she'd play there. It's okay to enter and win an International tournament, but it's not okay to go to Bali and get some more $$ and ranking points? :shrug:

Matt01

Oct 28th, 2009, 10:14 PM

And why not? If Dushevina would of qualified, I'm sure she'd play there. It's okay to enter and win an International tournament, but it's not okay to go to Bali and get some more $$ and ranking points? :shrug:

It is because International Tournament have a reason and purpose on the WTA tour. The Bali tourney with 2 WCs on the other hand is just a joke. And besides, my comment was tongue-in-cheek. I don't condemn the players to play a tourney to grab some more money and ranking points because that is what they are mostly playing tennis for.

ex hopman

Oct 28th, 2009, 10:25 PM

good WC choices!
It'll be a great tournament!

hankqq

Oct 28th, 2009, 10:41 PM

interesting group of players :D
hopefully there will be livestreams of this event :)

In the future though, I think this should be held before the YEC :lol: :p

tennisforadults

Oct 28th, 2009, 10:53 PM

Good decision that they gave the other WC Lisicki!
Sure she didnt win an international tournament, but that´s why she wasnt directly qualified, and needed the WC, and they can give the WC to anyone who deserves it, and Sabine definetely deserves it!
She won her first big title this year (even bigger title than needed for Bali),reached QF in Wimbledon, and then was so unlucky with injuries in the 2nd part of the year, but showed already again with the final in Luxembourg that she is on her way back!

2nd WC for Date Krumm might be a bit weird, as this tournament should be an opportunity for younger players to get some points, but she won a title this year at the age of 38, is back in the top 100 and for sure very popular, especially in Asia! :)

Sabine will be 4th seed in Bali I think, and couldnt face Bartoli,Stosur and Wickmayer in the RR...but I am not sure if it works like that :tape: :lol:

I agree... great wildcard choices (I'm so glad Hantuchova turned it down). Sabine won a bigger title this season and is definitely a 'rising star'. She came close to claiming a direct entry so a wildcard is well-deserved.

There are no seedings in Bali. It's a round-robin format like Doha I believe...

This tournament has got more of my favourites than Doha - so I'm definitely looking forward to it! :hearts:

young_gunner913

Oct 28th, 2009, 10:58 PM

LET'S GO KIMIKO!!! :rocker2:

Ferg

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Yep, there are seedings i believe. I dunno whether they include the WCs in the seedings. But 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12 will all be in different groups.

sammy01

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:03 PM

i hope kimiko does well, she may do well with it being RR as theres less pressure with that format.

drake3781

Oct 28th, 2009, 11:59 PM

I cannot read all these pages right now - was Patty offered and turned it down, or not offered?

Richie's

Oct 29th, 2009, 03:04 PM

I cannot read all these pages right now - was Patty offered and turned it down, or not offered?

Card offered and turned down:

Hantuchova
Sharapova
Ivanovic
Schnyder

Sombrerero loco

Oct 29th, 2009, 03:08 PM

sharapova should have accepted the WC!...

Beat

Oct 29th, 2009, 03:14 PM

"Players and fans are excited about the upcoming inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in beautiful Bali," said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.